This was truely a mountain of 'firsts' for me: My first solo summit, my first winter summit, my first fourteener, and my first experience using crampons. It had been a dry fall/winter with the snowline at about 12,000 feet. The weather was cold (as would be expected), but clear and nearly windless. What a great Christmas present!

I set off solo from the Shepherd Pass trailhead at 3:00 AM and arrived at SP at 7:20 AM. I first climbed Mount Tyndall on an easy line just to the right of the North Rib, mainly on slabs, then traversed left to the top of the rib and onto the summit ridge. I reached the summit at 9:40 AM and descended the same route. At the bottom of the rib, I turned right and descended into the Williamson Bowl. Boulder-hopping across the Bowl was not pleasurable. Beginning the West Face Route, I stayed slightly left of a/the black stain. To avoid the worst of the talus in the chute, I stayed left on more solid rock for about the first half and right for the second. I made it to the summit of Williamson at 2:55 PM. Since it was 15 July, I was probably the last to summit before the end of Williamson’s ‘regular’ climbing season. I returned to SP and then to the trailhead, arriving back at my car at 8:45PM. This trip started as an attempt at the CA 14ers record.

I heard someone "Hello" somewhere near me about 12:30 PM. I had crossed Williamson Bowl solo after summiting Mt. Tyndall at 8:00 AM, and was just beginning up the West Face Route. After proceeding a little farther, I saw a familiar figure above me - it was Tom Donnelly who, after summiting Mt. Tyndall just before me in the morning, had traversed the ridge SE from Tyndall, signing two additional registers including Mt. Versteeg along his way. We avoided the small amount of snow in the chute by climbing the easy ledges to the right as others have mentioned. Summited about 4:30 or so, took the obligatory photos including the nice view of Mt. Whitney in the south - and returned across the moraines and glacial debris that make up Williamson Bowl - arriving back at our camp above Shepherd Pass just at dark. It was a memorable 15-hour day with two 14'ers summited! JM.

Great climb! Solid rock on the right of the chute for the way up, soft stuff in the middle on the way down. One of the better views I've seen in the Sierra from the top. Though the approach is long w/ ups and downs and of course Williamson Bowl, I like it, it's part of the character of accessing the mt. Last year justinfw and I tagged along with snwburd to try it in a day. We made it to the black stain before turning around. I got a bit of heat exhaustion and AMS trekking back through W Bowl. This year I opted for a two day redemption and camped at Shepherds P. I reached the W summit from Shepherds P in 3 hrs 20 min, then made it from W summit to Tyndal summit via the North Rib in 2 hrs.

Traversed across the infamous williamson bowl to the area fo the infamous black stains. Just head for the southeast corner of williamson bowl and from there the chute is plain to see. The chimney at the top of the chute was the best part of the climb. 14'er number six.

Everyone complains about the loose rock in the chute above the black stain, but if you stay to the right-hand side of chute, you can just do little class 2 and 3 moves on intact rock and its a really fun route. PICS

I had a blast! We camped at Shepherd’s Pass over the 4th of July weekend and climbed on our layover day. The weather was spectacular and conditions in general were great. A lot of slogging, but still a fun climb,

It was a long haul up from Anvil Camp. Williamson Bowl deserves its reputation for a difficult trek. This was a China Lake Mountain Rescue Group training climb. We reached the summit at 3:30 PM after 8 hours from A.C. Nice weather allowed fantastic views from the summit.

I climbed the SE Ridge a year ago, May 12 2002 with Bob Huey of CLMRG, also part of this party. The approach through Williamson Bowl is much harder.

My wife Elena and I summited the mountain on May 11th via Bairs Creek (South Fork). We had a base camp in cental part of the cirque (10600 ft). Started @ 5:30 am, climbed up the chute to the top of SE Ridge. Then we traversed the rocks staying mostly on the western side of the rigde @ 12000 ft, climbed back to the top of the rigde as became wider an hiked to the base of the south face. Instead of getting towards the horns and then climbing on the snow to the summit plato from the cirque of North Fork Bairs Creek, we chose to climb the snow/rocks via the chute of the left from the gap. There were some cornices and problem snow fields that can be avoided by climbing on rocks (class 2+). The summit portion had a hard-packed snow. The summit was reached @ 4 pm. We couldn't find the register as it was buried by the snow. Returned back via the same route The last chute to the cirque was made with the headlamps on.

Very interesting climb and I would like to come back and do it via the North Fork of Bairs Creek.

Climbed this route with Kenn Kenega. The lower half of the route was 3rd class, We simulclimbed most of the upper technical pitches, The hardest pitch was traversing from the top of the route over to the West Horn, which could have been avoided if we would have cut across a pitch earlier. If you want to get the East Horn get to the top with plenty of light left. We down climbed the west face route in the dark, hiked all night to get back to camp.

Route Climbed: Ski up and down via George Creek Date Climbed: April 12-14, 1985

I remember reading Galen Rowell's article in Summit magazine sometime in the 70s, about possibly the greatest ski run in the Western United States, the George Creek of Mt. Williamson. Galen was saying something about the relief from the desert floor to the summit , which made the George Creek one of the longest ski runs anywhere in the world. This was in late 70s, so don't quote me exactly. In spring of 1985, we, Miguel Carmona, Andy Fried,visiting Italian Alpine Club member Corrado De Francesco and I, skied up the George Creek to the summit. From there, we had some 9.000+ feet of downhill skiing starting right on the summit. I remember everybody having such a good time skiing this incredible line. Does anybody ski it nowadays?

George Ivy and I climbed Williamson in winter of 1981 via George Creek. We took 4 days to ski up and down the peak. I remember seeing distant Nevada Peaks from the summit, the visbility was hundreds of miles.

Tim Winiarski, Bob Lathuras and I climbed this route and found it very enjoyable, but long! Most of the climb is 3rd class, but there were about 4 pitches of moderate class 5 to the top of the West Horn. From there it looks hard to the top, but isn't ( bring a copy of the Secor guide description of the West Horn ). We brought bivy gear and spent the night on top to enjoy a glorious sunset / sunrise! Also videotaped the whole climb with 3 digital camcorders. Reccomended!

Started from my friend's car at 5am, made the summit around noon. The day was very calm and sunny. Descended the same way, the normal route, and headed towards Tyndall; summit it, and back at the car at nightfall.

Started from Mahoganny Flats, took my time trying to find the right way. Went up the wrong chute, to far south. Met some other hikers on top and watch what way they descended. I descended the normal route and was back at Mahoganny Flats as the sun set.

Dayhiked with bearbnz up the NE Ridge from Shepherd's Pass Trailhead and down the tourist trail. Free-climbed all 4th and 5th on route, and was thankful for the snow between the Horns. Not recommended as a dayhike, since route-finding keeps it scary.